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MITFORD BOOKS BY JAN KARON
At Home in Mitford
A Light in the Window
These High, Green Hills
Out to Canaan
A New Song
A Common Life
In This Mountain
Shepherds Abiding
Light from Heaven
Esther’s Gift:
A Mitford Christmas Story
The Mitford Snowmen
Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader:
Recipes from Mitford Cooks, Favorite Tales from Mitford Books
The Mitford Bedside Companion:
Essays, Family Photographs, Favorite Mitford Scenes, and Much More
FATHER TIM BOOKS BY JAN KARON
Home to Holly Springs
In the Company of Others
Patches of Godlight:
Father Tim’s Favorite Quotes
A Continual Feast:
Words of Comfort and Celebration, Collected by Father Tim
CHILDREN’S BOOKS BY JAN KARON
Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bu
Miss Fa
The Trellis and the Seed:
A Book of Encouragement for All Ages
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Copyright © 2014 by Jan Karon
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Karon, Jan, date.
Somewhere safe with somebody good: the new Mitford novel / Jan Karon.
p. cm.—(Mitford; 10)
ISBN 978-0-698-14140-7
1. Kavanagh, Timothy (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Mitford (N.C.: Imaginary place)—Fiction. 3. Clergy—Fiction. 4. Episcopalians—Fiction. 5. Christian fiction. I. Title.
PS3561.A678S66 2014 2014012105
813'.54—dc23
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
For the young men and women of Grandfather Home for Children
www.grandfatherhome.org
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope.
—JEREMIAH 29:11
Heartfelt thanks to Candace Freeland, First Reader; Brenda Furman, Scrabble Queen; The Right Reverend Frank S. Cerveny; Chief Eric Brown; Polly Hawkes; Dan Caton; John Grotberg; Mayor J. B. Lawrence; Je
Boundless thanks to all who reread the entire Mitford series to prepare for the reading of Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good; and to Dr. Charles (Bunky) Davant; Dr. Christopher Holstege, Mark Ratzlaff, and Ray Russell.
Remembering our beloved Margaret A
Contents
Mitford Books by Jan Karon
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Map
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Oh, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person: having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them out. Just as they are—chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
—DINAH MARIA (MULOCK) CRAIK, 1826–1887
Chapter One
His wife was determined to march him to the country club this Saturday evening. Worse, he’d have to stuff himself into his old tux like sausage into a casing.
The Irish breakfast—more properly, a resplendent banquet on a plate—was the culprit. He had tried to restrict himself to three such repasts during their stay in County Sligo, but ended up devouring seven, two of them out of view of his wife. He didn’t know about Saint Paul, but the grim baggage of diabetes was definitely this cleric’s thorn.
‘I’m still jet-lagged,’ he said.
‘Jet-lagged? After ten days? Try again, sweetheart.’